The knitting technique of joining together knitted fabrics knitted on a flat knitting machine during the knitting process can eliminate or simplify the subsequent sawing process. For example, this knitting technique can be used to knit a knitted fabric having a laminated-in-three-layer part, such as, for example, a vest having a pocket formed in the front body, formed by a pocket knitted fabric part, an interior knitted fabric part of the pocket laminated with the pocket knitted fabric part, and a back body being laminated in three layers. The knitted fabric which is wholly knitted on the flat knitting machine, including a pocket and a neck, to eliminate the need of the sawing process is called a seamless knit.
The method of knitting a knitted fabric of which front and back bodies are joined together continuously at both ends thereof in the form of a tubular knitted fabric and also knitting a three-layer knitted fabric for the pocket to be formed in the front body by using a four-bed flat knitting machine comprising a pair of front and back needle beds arranged opposite to each other and another pair of upper needle beds arranged over them is known. A knitting technique, which is called a half-gauge knitting, is used to knit this knitted fabric having the pocket formed therein. The half-gauge knitting is a knitting method that, for example, loops of a front knitted fabric are allocated to odd needles of the front and back needle beds and loops of a back knitted fabric are allocated to even needles thereof, so that when the front knitted fabric is knitted, all loops of the back knitted fabric are supplied to the even needles on the back needle bed, while on the other hand, when the back knitted fabric is knitted, all loops of the front knitted fabric are supplied to the odd needles on the front needle bed, for the knitting of the knitted fabric.
When the knitted fabric having a laminating part laminated in three layers at the pocket is knitted by the half-gauge knitting, there are some possible ways. One is that a front pocket part and a back pocket part hidden behind the front pocket part are knitted in the density one-half the total gauges of the knitted fabric part around the pocket (one wale for every two needles). In this knitting, the knitted fabric is knitted to a location at which the formation of the pocket starts via a full-gauge loop arrangement wherein the empty needles for loop transfer are not arranged between the needles for loop formation. At the location where the formation of the pocket starts, the needles for knitting the front knitted fabric are alternately sorted between the needles for knitting the pocket knitted fabric part and the needles for forming the interior knitted fabric part of the pocket hidden behind the pocket knitted fabric part, for the knitting of the pocket. In this knitting, the pocket knitted fabric part and the interior knitted fabric part of the pocket are formed in the state of being laminated in two layers with alternate needles, respectively. Hence, the number of wale of the pocket knitted fabric part and the number of wale of the interior knitted fabric part of the pocket are reduced to one-half of the original number of wale. In the knitted fabric knitted in this way, sinker loops of the pocket knitted fabric part and the interior knitted fabric part are stretched largely, as compared with the surrounding part, so that the knitted fabric apparently has a coarse mesh, causing significant reduction in value of commodity. Another one is that the pocket knitted fabric part is knitted separately without forming the pocket on the knitting machine and the pocket knitted fabric part is stitched to the knitted fabric by sawing. This knitting produces an increased number of processes, causing cost increase, however.
There is a still another possible way that the whole knitted fabric including the pocket is knitted via the half-gauge knitting so that both the pocket part and the remaining parts are knitted in the same density. However, this knitting requires increased number of needles for the knitting and the knitted fabric cannot be knitted without using a large knitting machine having a corresponding needle bed length. Besides, the knitted fabric knitted becomes limp and poor in texture. Also, when a three-layer or four-layer knitted fabric is knitted on a two-bed flat knitting machine, such a knitted fabric is knitted via such a loop arrangement in which needles used for knitting such a knitted fabric are in a ratio of one to three or one to four. The two-bed flat knitting machine requires a longer needle bed for knitting the same knitted fabric than the four-bed flat knitting machine does, thus requiring increased number of needles required for the knitting. In addition, the two-bed flat knitting machine provides a more significant disadvantage of producing a sinker loop too much larger than a needle loop, than the four-bed flat knitting machine does.
In the light of the disadvantages mentioned above, the present invention has been made. It is an object of the present invention to disclose a knitting method that can allow the knitting of a knitted fabric including a laminating part in which the knitting fabric is partly laminated in multilayer, without providing texture differences between the parts knitted via different loop arrangements, using a shorter flat knitting machine than that used in the conventional knitting method.